I recently left the ignition in the on position on my ford. After charging the battery it has very weak if any spark. Points look good, put in a new coil, still hardly any spark. I have found that most times on my last flathead that when it cut out that a new condenser was the fix, until I put a ballast resistor in line to my coil, it was 6 volts by the way, as is my 46. I want to try a new condenser, is there a difference between 6 volt and 12 volt condensers? Napa has them in stock but obviously not for my 46. Bubba's web site says that .25 mfd condenser is the right thing to use. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Rich
Haven't touched a flathead or it's ignition since about '60, but I do remember that running the "diving bell" 3 bolt systems without a resistor in the primary wire was a recipe for trouble for points, condenser, and coil. Never did much with the later, 2 bolt dist. which used a more conventional coil But at least this gives you a bump back to the top.
I’d take a fingernail emery board to the points, then wipe them clean But no difference on condensers.
The contact surface of ignition points is usually very hard, platinum maybe?.. anyhow they often won't clean up with sand paper or ordinary files, a diamond file works good or I have a concrete cutting wheel for my 4" grinder that is diamond encrusted...makes a great point file when used by hand!!...your problem is most likely the condenser...
Condenses don't know voltage. The will work equally as well on 6 volts as 12 volts.. Also, they don't know much about capacitance either. In developing my "Trash Can" and other specialized (pre-war Ford) condensers, I tried many combinations. A .22 microfarad unit will work as good as a .25 microfarad which will work as good as a .36 microfarad unit. Most modern condensers are in the low to mid .20's in capacitance, while the original bg brass Mallory condensers were .36 microfarads. I have several old Mallory bus condensers that test out at .45 microfarads that also work well. Anything in the .20's or '30's will work fine. I found an old Ford manual that states "under capacitance will accelerate point wear while over-capacitance will limit performance". In all of the cases, it is not enough of a difference to affect anything. It is much more important to find a reliable unit that will be stable and have a long life. I think it was "Squirrel" on here who did a little detective work and found out the most modern (foreign-made) condensers have the main lead attached to the internals of the unit in a very tenuous manner and have a tendency to open up with use and vibration. I've sold a lot of "Trash can"'s because of this.
Finally got my old girl to fire. Put a new condenser on it, no spark. Looked closely at the points, they looked a bit tight so I opened them up to .015, put the distributor back in and vrooom! first touch of the starter button. Both sets of points were opening but so little that I had continuity through the coil wire/condenser post constantly through a revolution. Who has good quality points, condenser cap, rotor for thee old fords? Bubba did this distributor over for me and the points, although well lubricated closed up in about two thousand miles. The rotor rattles around on the shaft a bunch, I tried an old one that is probably 50 years old, it fits like a glove, absolutely no play on the shaft. Thanks for the support guys! You are the best! Rich
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